Council Adds Section on Conduct

The Wilkes-Barre Township council unanimously adopted the new code of conduct.

The code contains a section stating that any township employee charged with a crime, felony or first and second degree misdemeanor, must notify the township and can be suspended with or without pay until the case is resolved.

This comes after John Yuknavich, the Wilkes-Barre Township fire chief and a township DPW employee, was charged with stealing more than $11,000 from the volunteer fire department.

The fire department was raided by the state police investigators earlier this month.

“We’re having some problems and we have to address them. We’ve never had anything like this happen before. The council and the mayor are addressing these problems.” said Bruce Phillips.

“I think it’s a good thing. If somebody accuses you of something, you should be suspended until they prove that you’re not. Either that you did it or you didn’t do it,” said Dallas native Mike Fuller.

Barry and Diane Noss, a married couple from Shickshinny, do not agree with each other.

“The township supports the fire company so he should obey their laws. So he should be suspended without pay,” said Barry Noss.

His wife, Diane Noss, disagrees with her husband.

“He should keep his job. If anything, he should be suspended with pay, or keep him on the job which is more cost-efficient since they’ll be getting the work out of him for the pay that they’re paying him.”